Interview: Jason Ritter talks about his new movie “Peter and Vandy” opening today and about real-life love

Jason Ritter is a gifted actor as anyone who has seen him in such films as Happy Endings or The Education of Charlie Banks well knows.

But the 29-year-old veteran of the TV series The Class and Joan of Arcadia has had some trouble getting meaty roles in big studio films despite his proven ability to do drama or comedy.

“So many of the roles out there for guys my age are like the cool guy, the James Bond-like character  or it’s  like his nerdy best friend or his male chauvinist best friend or something like that,” he says without bitterness. “So a guy like me usually ends up falling through the cracks. I’m not this confident lothario (laughs).”

That’s why his lead role in the independent film Peter and Vandy, which opens in theaters today (Oct. 9)  is such a perfect fit for the emotionally intelligent actor. It looks at the relationship between a New York couple out of chronological order. Jess Weixler plays Vandy while Ritter is, of course, Peter.

“I think in a lot of films about the exploration of a relationship between two people, it ends when they decide to really fall in love and get married or something,” Jason says. “And a lot of times the movie doesn’t delve into what happens during happily ever after and that it’s long – there’s ever in there – and it can be difficult. Prince Charming, eventually that wears away to just regular guy. It’s a movie that goes into what the battles of being in a long-term relationship are and at the end of the day, hopefully it’s all worth it.”

While the multiplex is filled this weekend with comedies (Couples Retreat) and fright flicks (Zombieland) and family movies (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs), Peter and Vandy is an in-depth movie about the inner-workings of a relationship – warts and all. Ritter says reaction has been very positive at various film festivals and remembers a screening when a woman told him afterward that the film had made her fall in love with her husband again.

“You see these two people trying so hard to make it work and be together and neither of them are bad people but they get on each other’s nerves and it just seems to me an authentic thing,” Jason said during our recent chat at the headquarters of Strand Releasing.  “To me, it’s satisfying to watch this movie and feel like any time I would get into a fight with a significant other that I’m not some crazy, weird freak who no one will ever be able to love. (laughs). It’s supposed to be easy and nice and you’re supposed to be charming until the end of all time and, you know, when you run out of stories and you run out of tricks, you’re just left with boring old you and that’s a scary thing to let someone see. Are they gonna love you or not? If they don’t love you, how can you ever show somebody else that again? It’s a scary thing and a lot of people run away. But for people who have stuck through it, it’s a satisfying movie”

Off-screen, Jason has certainly stuck with it through thick and through thin with girlfriend Marianna Palka, who he has been with for nearly 10 years.

“It’s gone through a lot of various stages and that’s one of the things I didn’t know entering into it,” he says. “When it started to get strange and the initial thing started to die down, I thought, ‘Well, this is the end.’ When it rose from the ashes and became a whole new thing that was even better than the initial period of time, it sort of blew my mind. Mainly because we had each shown each other such ugly sides of ourselves, that to be loved through, it was as close to salvation as I’ll ever come. It’s the freedom to be yourself for better or for worse and allowing yourself to stumble in front of that person and not worry that you can’t walk and they run away.”

While Jason and Marianna’s relationship has unfolded chronologically, audiences will see glimpses into Peter and Vandy’s relationship out of sequence. A similar tactic was used in the recent romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer except that film let audiences know exactly which day a scene was taking place.

Says Jason: “Peter and Vandy doesn’t tell you where exactly in their story where they are so as an audience member you are kind of forced to put the pieces together so sometimes when you assume one thing, you realize a couple of scenes later that you were wrong.”

Ironically, the was shoot turned out to be mostly in chronological order – something rare for any film due to logistics. He and leading lady Weixler were glad.

“For the most part, we knew it was going to be out of order but strangely enough, the way they decided to shoot it was almost all in chronological order which was really helpful to us,” says Jason. “We met only 2-3 days before we started shooting so some of the first days before we started shooting so some of the first scene we shot were when I’m going up to her, I’m meeting her. It really helped because by the end, when we’re shooting the stuff at the wedding, the last scene in our story, was also the last scene that we shot so we had had this whole history.”

Since his CBS sitcom The Class ended in 2007, Jason has done a series of film roles, mostly in independent movies.

“That’s where the best roles have been, the most interesting,” he says. “And it’s been the place where the directors have allowed me to take the most risks. I did Good Dick during shooting of The Class and that was a film that my real-life girlfriend wrote and directed and she and I acted in it together and produced it together. It went to Sundance. That was the first time I had ever been sort of a producer on a movie and I got a whole other taste of things. [Independent films] are really great because you don’t have a bunch of people, too many people, making decisions and trying to make the film appeal to as many people as possible, sometimes watering it down.”

“At the same time that I’ve made those choices, I feel like that’s what chosen me as well,” he adds. “I’ve also auditioned for some of the bigger-budget things but it seems to not be a match for some reason. Or maybe I just haven’t found the right role. You never know what’s going to happen. I get to do bigger roles in independent films but I’m so happy to be a part of any film.”

He has proven this by taking smaller roles in bigger films such as last year’s W in which he played a young Jeb Bush. He also has a smallish role in the upcoming indie film Morning with Jeanne Tripplehorn and Laura Linney. He plays a hotel receptionist.

“Jeanne Tripplehorn comes and tries to get a hotel room and I’m not very good at my job, it’s my first day and I’m a little flustered and I have a couple other scenes,” Jason explains. “It’s a sweet part but more than that, it was just such a beautiful script and that’s what I try to have lead me rather than, ‘Well, how many lines”‘ or ‘How big is the part?’ If it’s something that I would love to be a part of, then it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small.”

This is the second of two parts. See part one HERE.